Rink Diary 2008 - 2009

Saturday Dec.6 2008

The City's "rink hotline" says that this rink will open on Dec.13, but it's open on Dec.6. A rink attendant there says he's noticed that there is no compressor sound but there is ice on the most of the rink. College Park has very little drainage, and it's cold, so the water that collected there has frozen. Red pylons mark the cement strip along the edge. The opening sign, still from last year, says December 8. Inside it's cold, but the mats are laid out and the bathrooms are being cleaned.

The rink attendant says he was not told that his shift was cancelled, and the rink coordinator said he never heard about the delay in opening either.

the left-over opening sign from last year

pylons along the cement -- no other sign of explanation

Thursday December 25 2008

The rink has good ice, despite the lack of maintenance -- the rain last night really helped. A couple of kids are playing shinny hockey.

this rink has a heated garage but no zamboni

good ice in the middle of downtown

Sunday February 1 2009

A "girls in science" event has brought an instructor and two volunteers to have a "science of skating" demo at the rink. There are more people at the rink than usual anyway (it's a beautiful sunny day) but the ice is not great, wherever there's sun.

more skaters than usual

mushy enough in the sun to show footprints

Friday February 13 2009

compressor down, no ice

The "rink hotline" says that College Park Rink is closed for the rest of the season due to technical problems. So the bad ice must have been the sign already. Now there's only a big dirty puddle with a bit of ice floating in it. Sad.